Some analysis on the composition of city advisory boards:

Click title for link to city website to refer to the rosters of the various advisory boards.

For purposes of this analysis, there are nine citizen volunteer boards in the City of Lake Worth:
- Community Development Agency
- Electric Utility Advisory Board
- Finance Advisory Board
- Historic Resources Preservation Board
- Library Board
- Planning and Zoning Board
- Recreation Advisory Board
- Sister City Board
- Tree Board

Tonight on the Consent Agenda, Vice Mayor Maxwell will be appointing another volunteer member to the Library Board.

I decided to perform a tally of those currently on city advisory boards in order to determine how many people were appointed by each elected official. This is what resulted:

Mayor Pam Triolo: 11
Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell: 11
Commissioner John Szerdi: 6
Commissioner Andy Amoroso: 5
Commissioner Christopher McVoy: 3

Clearly Commissioner McVoy is the one with the least current appointees. Besides Vice Mayor Maxwell, he has had the longest time on the Commission. He was elected in November of 2010. So by November of this year, he will be completing his fourth full year as Commissioner. His term is extended now due to the change to March elections.

Here are the boards on which his appointees are serving:

Electric Utility Board: 1
Library Board: 1
Tree Board: 1

Now, I know that there can be a lot of turnover in board positions, so these data do not suggest that he has only made three appointments over that entire period of time. But it does show a lack of engagement or recognition of the importance on advisory boards and the role they play in the governance of the city. The difference is too stark not to think so.

If you are a supporter of Commissioner McVoy and think that his constituents (which are really all city residents) are under-represented on appointed boards, you should point this out to him. Perhaps you should consider applying for one of these positions. Click here for the application. There is currently a vacancy on the Historic Resource Preservation Board.